High purity oxygen, particularly preheated oxygen, is a very reactive agent often used as an oxidant in the chemical and refining industries. A high grade metal pipe carrying a stream of preheated oxygen on discharge to a reaction zone however, can be ignited, burned, and completely destroyed; or its temperature may be increased to a level where the pipe becomes structurally weakened and unsafe. To avoid these intolerable conditions, in current practice the maximum preheat temperature for oxygen is about 500.degree. F.
In a fluid bed syn gas generation (FBSG) process, a process wherein syn gas (hydrogen and carbon monoxide) is produced by reaction at high temperatures within a fluidized bed of catalyst, or catalyst and solids diluent, between low molecular weight hydrocarbons, steam and oxygen, it is particularly advantageous to preheat the oxygen feed to temperatures above 500.degree. F. The use of a more highly preheated oxygen feed would provide a more efficient source of process heat, and less oxygen would be consumed in the process; since both process heat and oxygen consumption are significant cost factors.
Oxygen consumption is thus set not only by stoichiometry, but also by a technique, or device for safely introducing the oxygen into the reactor at temperatures above 500.degree. F. For an FBSG reactor operating at a given temperature, the amount of oxygen required is inversely proportional to the amount of preheat applied to the various feed streams. Less oxygen is required in a process wherein the oxygen entering the reactor is preheated above 500.degree. F. than in a process wherein the oxygen entering the process is preheated to temperatures less than 500.degree. F. Moreover, because excess fuel is usually available at the site to preheat the oxygen to a temperature above 500.degree. F., the net effect is a lower cost process (less oxygen consumed and better utilization of excess fuel).